Vertical motions in Northern Victoria Land inferred from GPS: A comparison with a glacial isostatic adjustment model, in Antarctica.

Following the densification of GPS permanent and episodic trackers in Antarctica, geodetic observations are playing an increasing role in geodynamics research and the study of the glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA). The improvement in geodetic measurements accuracy suggests their use in constraining GIA models. It is essential to have a deeper knowledge on the sensitivity of GPS data to motions related to long-term ice mass changes and the present-day mass imbalance of the ice sheets. In order to investigate the geodynamic phenomena in Northern Victoria Land (NVL), GPS geodetic observations were made during the last decade within the VLNDEF (Victoria Land Network for Deformation control) project. The processed data provided a picture of the motions occurring in NVL with a high level of accuracy and depicts, for the whole period, a well defined pattern of vertical motion. The comparison between GPS- derived vertical displacements and GIA is addressed, showing a good degree of agreement and highlighting the future use of geodetic GPS measurements as constraints in GIA models. In spite of this agreement, the sensitivity of GPS vertical rates to non-GIA vertical motions has to be carefully evaluated.